Teens Say They Want To Make The Grades

A Survey Showed Kids Care More About College Than Sex, Drugs Or Being Hip.

August 8, 2001|By Lori Horvitz, Sentinel Staff Writer

Talk about pressure. The heat is on for American high school students to earn top grades in the toughest courses, score well on college-entrance exams and load their transcripts with all sorts of athletic and extracurricular activities.

A report released Tuesday by the Virginia-based Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans shows that young people ages 14 to 18 feel much more pressure to get good grades and go to college than to look cool, do drugs or have sex.

The findings are based on a poll of 1,014 high-school students surveyed across the country in May. Pollster Peter Hart said the report paints a largely upbeat picture about teenagers in the United States.

"These young people are very directed, very motivated and very serious," Hart said.

They have to be.

Florida high-school students must pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to earn a diploma. Students take the reading and math exams in 10th grade, and they get six chances to pass. Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet -- acting as the Florida Board of Education -- will set this year's passing grade Tuesday.

Just as important, though, is that 10th-graders' test scores are used to grade their high schools on an A-to-F scale.

Jennifer Rahimitabar, a senior at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, said she puts a lot of pressure on herself to earn good grades and participate in school activities. But she doesn't mind it. She expects stiff competition to get into the University of Florida.

The 17-year-old plays for the varsity tennis team, does volunteer work and has a part-time job.

"We all compete to get the best grades in the class, but it's healthy competition," Rahimitabar said. "I put it on myself to achieve as much as I can. I do it because I want to do it -- not because someone else is making me."

The poll asked high-school students to rank the various pressures in their lives.

Twenty-six percent said the need to get good grades was a major problem, and 36 percent called it a minor problem.

That was higher than the 16 percent who said pressure to look a certain way was a major problem. About 15 percent cited financial problems as a major problem; 14 percent had a major problem getting along with their parents; 12 percent cited pressure to do drugs or drink alcohol; 10 percent spoke of pressure to have sex; and 9 percent listed loneliness and a feeling of being left out.

Caleb Roe, 15, a 10th-grader at Gateway High School in Kissimmee, said the pressure he gets from peers is positive.

"I feel pressure from my peers to stick with things -- don't give up, pressure to perform well in general," said Caleb, an honor-roll student. "My parents expect me to do good -- but the friends, I'm around them more often."

Allan Rivlin, project director for the survey, said 84 percent of the respondents thought having a college degree is either critical or very important to success in life.

The pollsters concluded that students care about success but defined it in terms of relationships and contributions, not money or fame.

Rivlin said the survey depicts American teens as much more upbeat than they are generally portrayed in media headlines.

"People do get an impression that there's much more angst and crisis [among teens] than this survey identifies," he said.